Wrong Turn in Nasiriyah Led to Soldiers' Capture Maintenance Company Drove Into Waiting Ambush

Washington Post ^ | April 13, 2003 | Peter Baker

[Diogenesis]

The capture may have been helped by Jennings giving their position.

Someday, historians should look back to how Jennings, Rather, Geraldo and a few of the others
betrayed the US forces, even during battle.

[FreeAtlanta]

Guns Jammed! Those marvelous M-16s....

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[anncoulteriscool]

I think they might make a movie about this too! WOW! These guys are lucky to be alive...God bless them!

[Arkinsaw]

Two things struck me about this article. #1 their weapons jammed up. There is no excuse for us to give our soldiers weapons that will not work properly in combat. #2 the Iraqis took pleasure in telling Johnson that her mother had denounced Bush. A lesson to all that words on the homefront have a definite effect on our fighting people.

[CheneyChick]

Why is this continually being reported that it was a result of a wrong turn? I heard that one of the members of this unit said that was not the case.

[Arkinsaw]

Why is this continually being reported that it was a result of a wrong turn? I heard that one of the members of this unit said that was not the case.

I think that soldier was still under the mis-impression that they had not made a wrong turn. All other sources seem to say they did.

[LWalk18]

Two things struck me about this article. #1 their weapons jammed up. There is no excuse for us to give our soldiers weapons that will not work properly in combat. #2 the Iraqis took pleasure in telling Johnson that her mother had denounced Bush. A lesson to all that words on the homefront have a definite effect on our fighting people.

I think it was Hudson's mother.

[Arkinsaw]

I think it was Hudson's mother.

Either way, she gave the Iraqis ammo to damage her child's morale.

[Numbers Guy]

Either way, she gave the Iraqis ammo to damage her child's morale

I was searching via Google and all I found was "Filipino-American Anecita Hudson, the 65-year-old mother of Army Spc. Joseph Hudson of El Paso, Texas, has appealed to President George W. Bush through newsmedia on March 23 to save her son and bring him 'home alive'."

Obviously the Iraqis were quite happy to overinterpret that as a denunciation and used that to undermine Hudson's morale.

[dandelion]

I don't recall Hudson's mom denouncing Bush. She simply said that she hoped Bush would bring the POW's home, from what I recall. Set me straight if I am wrong...

[Alas Babylon!]

Mrs Hudson is on Fox News right now talking to John Gibson.

[error99]

Well, it seems to me if a person is lost, then they must have made a wrong turn 'somewhere'.

[YaYa123]

"They told Johnson that they had seen her mother on television. They told Hudson the same and took pleasure in telling him that his mother had denounced Bush."

And this is why the military doesn't want military families all over television during times like this. We didn't see military wives on television, and I'm sure it's because they were cautioned not to give the enemy mental weapons to torture our prisoners with.

Everytime I saw non-military connected relatives overwhelmed by cameras on their doorsteps, and the attention of stupid reporters, asking dumb questions, I cringed.

[Conservababe]

Yes, this report is being disputed as to the wrong turn scenerio.

[LWalk18]

I don't recall Hudson's mom denouncing Bush. She simply said that she hoped Bush would bring the POW's home, from what I recall. Set me straight if I am wrong...

I was referring to what the article said, but I heard similar to what you found...I am sure they [Iraqi captors] took her comments out of context.

[Arkinsaw]

Obviously the Iraqis were quite happy to overinterpret that as a denunciation and used that to undermine Hudson's morale.

I read some comments from (the tall Apache pilot's) father where he said that he really had nothing to say prior to his son's release because he did not wish the Iraqi's to be aware of how hard it was for the family. Smart fellow.

[error99]

It doesn't really matter which POW it was or even if the 'mom' actually said anything or not.
You always expect yuor captors to lie to you and to tell you things to break your will.
(Now if they showed the POW a video tape of mom expressing those views in an interview on the nightly news - thats a different story.)

[Atchafalaya]

Me too, it was a injured troop interviewed Sat.